Emily Burns

This series of paintings is rooted in a distinctly American cultural tradition, harnessing the vernacular of seduction and persuasion prevalent in branding, advertising, and popular culture. The visual cues of artifice and ornamentation are metaphors for the human propensity to cover, repress, and ignore difficult emotions.Critical of the duplicity we both create for ourselves, and absorb from the powers-that-be of Capitalist ideology, these works simulate the way our cultural belief systems inform our desperate struggle to mask chaotic tensions just beneath the surface. These works appropriate the ubiquity of false realities, blurring truth and fiction through the representation of symbols as decorative veils. These thin façades become crucial foundations of our contemporary existence, as we cling to utopian representations in a world filled with uncertainty.In an unpredictable political climate, with expert forecasts of a drastically-near end for humankind on earth, this series attempts to distill powerful sentiments that are difficult to capture through written language. Through color and form, these works place these delicate constructions and mythologies of romantic idealization at the forefront of our awareness.I believe that the power of painting lies in its ability to translate the true depths of the nature of our humanity. These paintings identify the discrepancies between our intentions and actions in a culture fed by fantasy, and the pursuit of future pleasure at all costs, despite imminent warning signs. It is the very nature of our flaws and will to survive that blind us to our downfall—yet give us the ability to see the beauty in almost anything.